E-Marketing

SPU requires that titles considered for inclusion into the program must be available in a print edition as well as in
an e-book edition.

This may be considered "old think", but the requirement reflects
the current reality in the industry. The market for e-books, while growing very fast, accounts for a very small percentage of book sales overall.
Moreover, most important review media, including essential library
review media, will not even consider a title that does not exist in
a print edition.

After acceptance into the SPU program, publishers that wish to focus on the e-book market may
execute a print run as low as 50 copies per title through IPG's
low-cost print on demand program.

Print on Demand

IPG has an arrangement with one of the highest quality printers of POD books in America.
This allows SPU’s client publishers to buy stock at a very low cost, even in
runs of only 10 to 50 copies. For obvious reasons publishers have been reluctant
to commit to an offset print run of thousands of copies before a title has had a
chance to prove itself in the marketplace. The POD technology completely removes
this risk because copies can be printed in response to actual orders.